I’m going to shoot from the hip here, but the main thing I’ve learned about the journey of birthing/crafting a business is DEATH.
Yep, you read it right.
It’s the death of several aspects of ourselves, all of them intimately tied to our EGO limitations.
Death of:
- our restrained sense of who we think we are or should be;
- our limiting beliefs around our ability to be creative in bringing our vision into the world;
- our resistance’s control over our lives;
- our limiting beliefs around money, visibility, discipline, resiliency, and creativity;
- playing small and being silent; and
- not being able to show up and take a stand on what we care about.
And that’s just a few of the things that birthing and crafting a business will bring forth for us to face. That’s why business isn’t ‘just business.’
It’s deeply psychological and personal, and that’s even before you deal with practical aspects of what your business is about.
Now I want to make this clear.
We live in a culture that has elevated the archetype of the entrepreneur to epic if not mythic proportions.
That hasn’t gone so well for us, as we can clearly see from the headlines.
We need to reimagine what it means to be an entrepreneur and take it beyond its bro bravado and sociopathic behaviors.
I’m also speaking of business because many folks have embraced the gig economy, have a ‘side-hustle,’ or have decided to create their own ‘legit’ businesses in the last several years.
But business could also be translated into your ‘creative project,’ be it writing a book, launching your podcast, taking your crafts and hobbies to the next level, etc. – you name it!
When I started on this journey of crafting my business, I wish I had had help around the deeper psychological and spiritual aspects of what it meant to ‘birth my business.’ I was unprepared for what it would require me to face and learn about myself.
While it has taken me a long time to embrace the archetype of business as a spiritual teacher, doing so has made its lessons less jarring.
I can’t say it’s easy in our limited view of what ‘easy’ means, but seeing business as a spiritual teacher has helped me embrace the journey differently. Plus it has broadened my perspective on what livelihood can mean both personally and collectively.
This journey is way more than ‘making money.’
This is a journey that will lead you to heal aspects of your family dynamics, ancestral lineage, what it means to adult and elder, while also learning to claim all the spokes of your life’s wheel.
Plus how you show up on this journey is also healing the collective wounds we all carry around the big C – capitalism and our collective scarcity trance.
As you can see, birthing or crafting your business is much more than the journey of livelihood. It can be healing for both you and your community. In many ways, it’s personal development on steroids, one that will be challenging at times, but deeply fruitful and joyful in other aspects.
It’s not for the faint of heart, but in a COURAGEOUS DECADE, what the world wants from us is that we embrace our creativity and imagination!
Want to embrace your business from a more imaginative and creative perspective? Come check out my coaching offer here.
Featured photo credit: Lina White
Second photo credit: Joshua Coleman
